Members of Parliament unanimously approved a motion Thursday calling on former Transport minister Chrystia Freeland to appear before a committee again in light of new e-mails revealing her department had several weeks of advance notice that BC Ferries planned to buy four new vessels from a Chinese shipyard.

The motion was approved just hours after The Globe and Mail reported on the existence of the advance warning, which came in the form of a confidential discussion and detailed follow-up e-mail exchange between BC Ferries president and CEO Nicolas Jimenez and Transport Canada deputy minister Arun Thangaraj.

The head’s-up took place in late April. After the BC Ferries procurement plan was announced in early June, Ms. Freeland sharply criticized the B.C. government in writing, saying she was “surprised” and “dismayed” that “BC Ferries would select a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build new ferries in the current geopolitical context.”

Mr. Jimenez wrote to Mr. Thangaraj on June 22 expressing his frustration and concern with Ms. Freeland’s letter to the B.C. government, saying he was “troubled” by the minister’s public comments.